FRANKFORT — Using the state as a catalyst state Treasurer Todd Hollenbach is proposing businesses across the commonwealth offer retirement accounts for employees who lack access to retirement accounts through their workplace.

Hollenbach said 786,000 Kentuckians could currently take advantage of the plan entitled KYRA, short for Kentucky Retirement Account.

The legislation was filed on Tuesday by Rep. Martha Jane King, D-Lewisburg, the primary sponsor of the legislation, who said the goal is give Kentuckians a choice that does not place any financial burden on the state or employers.

If passed, the accounts would roll out over the course of two years, and the state would put together a seven member board under the guidance of the treasurer’s office to bid out the plan to a private company.

Hollenbach said employees would automatically be entered into a plan unless the employee decided to opt out. The plan is proposed as portable and is endorsed by the AARP in Kentucky.

Scott Wegenast, the AARP Kentucky Associate State Director for Advocacy and Outreach, said the Kentucky bill will follow similar AARP endorsed legislation from other states.

“It is a bonus for Kentucky that other states have boiled this down, they’ve had the debates and we’ve got a product here that can work,” Wegenast said.

Nick Storm

Nick Storm is the Anchor and Managing Editor of Pure Politics available exclusively on Spectrum News. Pure Politics is the only nightly program dedicated to Kentucky politics. Nick covers all of the political heavyweights and his investigative work brings to light issues that might otherwise go unnoticed, like his coverage of the backlog of DNA rape kits waiting to be tested in Kentucky. Nick is also working on a feature length bio documentary Outlaw Poet: A documentary on Ron Whitehead. Pure Politics airs weeknight at 7 and 11:30 on Spectrum News. Follow Nick on Twitter @NStorm_Politics. Nick can be reached at 502-792-1107 or nicholas.storm@charter.com.